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OPEN MOUSE The red or the blue pill? Anyone going into Fun will be inevitably reminded of this key question in "The Matrix". It's just that in this downtown New York club under the Manhattan Bridge there's nothing dangerous about entering the red zone. When you climb the stairs from the bar and lounge decorated in blue on up to the VIP gallery you should only bring one thing with you: curiosity. The digital artists in the red twilight are all quite happy to give you a glimpse of the screen because at OpenMouse it's not the artists themselves who are "very important" but all the things one can get out of the computer. |
As with an open mic, artists from all disciplines can present themselves and their work. Of course, they can't speak, rap or sing into the mike, but they can let their mouse send the cursor flitting about the screen. Everything is permitted, the only limit being Mac or PC capacity. The goals are to promote an exchange between the real and the virtual worlds, a collaboration between digital artists and DJs, a critical discourse between net artists and people interested in art forms in the brave new world of new media.
"We would like to show the audience that it's integrated, that there is constant interaction between what's happening around them and what's on the computer screen," explains Mark Tribe, founder and chairman of Rhizome.org (www.rhizome.org), a non-profit organization and platform for net art, which, together with Soundlab (www.soundlab.org) extends invitations to OpenMouse every last Thursday of the month.
In fact, few people are content with only the constant visual and audio backdrop. Of course, you can lounge comfortably on the blue sofas and after the first flash that you get upon entering this computer-overload with its soundloop accompaniment, you may need to take a break in the blue area for a moment. However, after one or two caipiri–as, most people then choose the red pill and climb upwards into the gallery, chock full of cables, Macs and PCs, to seek the reality behind the projections by interacting with the artists.
Generally, an exhibition of Internet art is still limited by the anonymous vastness of the world wide web and loses itself hyperlinked in the depths of the net. The medium doesn't seem conducive to a genuine exchange outside of the Internet, but OpenMouse proves the exact opposite.
Digital artwork is not only presented here but its mathematical secrets are beamed onto the surface and the effects are presented for discussion. During the Tokyo Fusion Show by Paul Clay and Yuki Takyi, it isn't just live-action, cute, Japanese figures and magazine photos flickering across hectic street scenes, but also numbers and programming commands. The result is a visual trip through Tokyo's urbanity entwined with the Cyberworld, aimed at the controversialism of this city, which swings back and forth between high-tech hardware and cute, baby-doll aesthetics.
Often, however, it has less to do with matrixological reflections on the digitalization of our lives, the expansion of communication and changes in perception through the computer and the Internet than simply dealing with how the computer can be best used as a tool for implementing new art ideas. Artist $uzy Spence, who is meanwhile making a living as a web designer, is quite excited by "finally being able to bring actual movement to my images". And of course the artist is using aesthetic ideas that arose through creative freedom for commercial projects as well. According to Tribe, "the synergy effect between the net art community and the Silicon Alley Industry is huge." However, a couple of long-established East Village artists have plotted a new course at the most recent OpenMouse.
Despite or just in time for the New Economy crisis they want to take their company, Webbitown, public. In any event, it will be worth just as much as the paper the stock is printed on because stocks are at the moment the only thing that Webbitown is producing in the real world. Three hundred musicians, painters and practioners of the art of living have meanwhile immortalized themselves on Webbitown Corporation's stocks, which are now destined to be auctioned to downtown galleries and private parties. Via a Powerpoint presentation, the OpenMouse guests will be shown that 50.1 percent of the capital will go to Webbitown, 49.9 to the artists. And what about the shareholders? In addition to the artistic documents they will receive a share in a piece of land in a virtual city. However, all online interactions also have an effect on reality. If a Webbitown resident for example buys a book online from another, he will receive this in the real world sent by the post office. Hmm, is it worth swallowing the red pill for this then?
The Virtual FunJosefine K–hn
>> 02.07.2001
